Friday, 28 August 2015

You may remember that I made a few animals last year from her original book "Edward's Menagerie", I made an Ardvark, a Koala, a Bunny and a Cat.

So when I got the email offering me a chance to review the book, of course I jumped at it.

I got a PDF copy which I opened on my iPad using iBooks. In this book, same as the first, the patterns are laid out differently to other crochet books I have used. You get the basic body patterns in the beginning of the book, making up instructions in the back of the book, and any adaptations on each single pattern as you work through the book.

This can be a little frustrating as you are constantly flicking back and forward to see which part to do next. For example, you turn to the pattern you want to make and it says "work basic body pattern" - so off you go to the front and find the basic body pattern, to which the first instruction is "work 6DC into the foundation ring", so then you have to go to the back of the book to find out how to do the foundation ring. Which is actually just DC2 then work 6 x DC into the 2nd CH. It wouldn't be too much harder to just put this instruction on the basic pattern to save you flicking back and forth.

Colour changes are also mentioned on each pattern page, so you need to make note of these or you will forget to change as you work :)

Obviously once you have made a few you remember the instructions, but in the interim it's just a little frustrating - ESPECIALLY when it is a PDF version.

That is my only grumble, other than that this book, as the first, is just gorgeous. It's beautifully set out, easy enough to follow and is concise in the directions, even though they are scattered about all over the place.

I decided to make Dave, the Seagull. Because where we park at work there is a seagull issue - mainly with the pooping on our cars and making an awful mess.

However, I have no issues with seagulls, I have issues with the humans that leave the mess that seagulls eat, therefore encouraging them to hang around populated areas before complaining about them - but that's another rant :)

So, Dave it was - I added my own little addition of a seagull poop so I could photograph him on my colleagues car (who doesn't share my respect and wants to shoot them all ;) )

Dave will be donated to that colleague after he has been on a little road trip with me. So look out for him in future blogs.

In the meantime, if you fancy Kerry's beautiful books for yourself, you can find the links below.

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

I had so much fun with this tutorial I did for the Hobbycraft Blog. The Tulip 3D paint is just brilliant for decorating t-shirts with, and the fact that this one glow-in-the-dark..... what's not to love?

The paint goes a long way too, which is a bonus, as it is so annoying to run out of things mid project.

The t-shirt was just £3.00 from George at Asda. It's quite thin, but that makes it better to work with as you can see through it easier to trace the lines of the template through.

Of course, you can put any design you like on in the same way.

To find the full step-by-step tutorial click on the link below, and do let me know if you make one for yourself :)

Friday, 21 August 2015

I was sent some DMC Natura XL yarn to play with. Now I am not a stranger to this yarn, as I have used the DMC Natura before in crocheting. But this XL one is super chunky and comes in a gorgeous range of colours, like it's thinner cousin.

It is just cotton, nothing mixed, nothing added, just 100& cotton. Because of this there is very little stretch and the stitches are beautifully defined.

Like most cottons it does untwist a bit so some people can find them a bit 'splitty', I don't mind that, my Amour hooks seem to cope really well with splitty yarns so it is not a problem for me. I wasn't overly keen on the bamboo hook that I received with the yarns, but I am a bit of a one-hook girl so try it for yourself and see.

The colours of the DMC Natura XL are amazing - right up my street, they just pop out with summery brightness, who couldn't be cheerful when faced with colours like these?

There was a little leaflet with a pattern in the package with the yarn so I thought I would make some bits off that, like these wristwarmers.

And some little hearts - although the given pattern didn't seem to work so well so I added a row and edited it slightly to suit.

Of course I had to make a heart out of every colour, then make some again :) So I decided to add them to a simple crochet chain to make a pretty garland.

As I had quite a bit of yarn left I then went on to crochet into this hula-hoop to make a rather large wall hanging, you may remember this one from a previous post. :)

...... and now I have a new pile of DMC Natura XL to make something quite exciting with. Watch this space :)

Summer is the time of festivals, and having just been to one myself I realise just how much effort people put into their clothes for such events.

As these ladies did.

When I first claimed my patch of grass I spotted these jumpers across the back of 6 chairs, I thought to myself that someone had made a lot of effort, or did they have a knitting club and they all made their own.

As the evening drew in on the jumpers started to go on and I grabbed this shot, but then I decided that really I should go and talk to these colourful ladies and find out more about their jumpers.

It turned out that one of their Mum's made them all - a 75 yr old lady no less, I bet she enjoyed seeing them come together with all those wonderful neon colours. Matching leg warmers too!

Thank you ladies, if you are reading this, for letting me take and use your photo. Your bright and cheery jumpers made my day. Always like to see a bit of craft work :)

So... talking of festival clothing, do you remember the spray paint neon t-shirt I made a wee while ago?

Here is is again....

You can easily make yourself one of these, my tutorial is on the Hobbycraft blog which you can find by clicking below.

What festival clothes have you made? Pop me a photo on my Facebook page.

Saturday, 15 August 2015

What a great time we had too, of course the music took me right back to my teenage years. Hubster, who is a bit younger, just had to put up with me singing most of the way down the M6 on the way to the event.

The line up was great, although I particularly went to see Jimmy Somerville and The South. As I have recently seen The South in concert, Jimmy was the main pull for me. And boy, was he good!

Folk were dressed up in all sorts of costumes, I felt considerably under-dressed in my jeans and t-shirts (and very warm too as it was a glorious day)

We had a slight hiccup in the fact that we had both forgotten to take any cash with us - we do this a lot, we completely rely on places having cash machines. But I had an emergency £5.00 note in my phone case. Cider for me (he doesn't drink) or share a portion of chips for dinner later on. After all we were going to be there for 10 hours. The cider won.

I went for a wee when Belinda Carlisle came on as her voice does nothing but sound like chalk on a blackboard to me, so what better to do than queue up for a stinky portaloo? BUT would you believe on that wander, trying to escape her weird warble, after asking at a few vans if they took card payments, (as the hunger was setting in), I found a transit van with a cash machine in it! Result. Hubster's little face when I took him back a burger and chips was priceless, I guess he was hungry too :) (and more cider for me) Pity it was 7.30pm in the evening and we had been sat there with nothing for the best part of seven hours.

All in all a great time, the acts were great, except Soul II Soul who were pants and Belinda as mentioned above.

But here is a little clip of the most marvellous Jimmy Sommerville to give you a taste of the atmosphere :)

Thursday, 13 August 2015

Well, while I was working on that, I was also working on a Flamingo cushion cover too. Still using Tulip products but this time I was drawing and colouring in, rather than the sponging technique I used on the Pineapple.

It was good fun, and if you fancy having a go yourself, you can get my step-by-step tutorial on the Hobbycraft blog by using the link below.

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

I made these cute little crochet jars recently for an idea to pop little notes in at a wedding, but you could use them to pop little notes in for almost anything - birthdays, Father's/Mother's day, even fill with sweeties to make a lovely, thoughtful gift.

I have made them in various yarn types but they do look better in cotton - 4 ply is best as you get a nice definition of stitches.

First I made a bracelet, the half silver rondelle work beautifully with the silver, it sparkles without colour.

Then I made matching earrings too.

(Incidentally I am holding a class soon to make these earrings at Hobbycraft in Carlisle. Click HERE for more details)

Voilà! A nice sparkly jewellery set is done.

It's so nice to go back and revisit things you have once done a lot of. I really enjoyed doing this again, although my new vari-focal glasses weren't that good, I had to resort to my reading specs which meant I couldn't watch TV at the same time..... oh, the joys of growing old!